Just a question please ???

If I feed my solar panels to the inverter and it starts to rain ,my earth leakage trips out--even with all switches off at the db board--on eskom power everything is ok --I have checked all connections and no shorts are visible and all connections are dry--My roof is Aluzinc and roof is earthed to a separate spike into the ground--It is almost like the phase going mad when it rains--Even if I disconnect only neg or pos then same symptoms. I even replaced my el.

 

The installer "left the country"

 

Edited June 29, 20232 yr by zs1ssm
Forgot a smiley

1 hour ago, zs1ssm said:

Just a question please ???

If I feed my solar panels to the inverter and it starts to rain ,my earth leakage trips out--even with all switches off at the db board--on eskom power everything is ok --I have checked all connections and no shorts are visible and all connections are dry--My roof is Aluzinc and roof is earthed to a separate spike into the ground--It is almost like the phase going mad when it rains--Even if I disconnect only neg or pos then same symptoms. I even replaced my el.

 

The installer "left the country"

 

What inverter do you have? 

Where is the ELD that trips located, on the AC grid side, or on inverter load output.?

When you disconnect both PV- and PV+, do you still trips under the rainy condition? 

Edited June 29, 20232 yr by BritishRacingGreen

Hi --it is a Growatt spf5000es---If both + and - are disconnected then el does not trip but if I connect anyone then the el trips--Eskom and inverter comes in at the change over switch and from there to the el---(eskom on it`s own input and inverter on it`s own)

 

Are the MC4 connectors readily reachable so that you can isolate sections at a time?

I help a friend install that same  growatt inverter and did get a nice shock from the pv cables coming from the inverter when splicing the pv cables to connect mc4 plugs after he had started up the inverter .

So can only think there is ac power  in the pv cables coming from that inverter but did not test as I did not have my multimeter close. 

So when it rains if one of the mc4 plug have a water leak or a damaged pv cables the current goes to ground  and trips the breakers . 

Edited July 1, 20232 yr by GMAC

11 hours ago, GMAC said:

So when it rains if one of the mc4 plug have a water leak or a damaged pv cables the current goes to ground  and trips the breakers . 

Yes, that and the shock hazard are two of the side effects of the "transformerless" high PV voltage models (of any brand). Leakage to earth can also somehow pump up the bus voltage and either trip the inverter with a bus voltage fault, or damage it. So it's vital that your PV connectors are waterproof.

On 2023/07/02 at 6:08 AM, Coulomb said:

Yes, that and the shock hazard are two of the side effects of the "transformerless" high PV voltage models (of any brand). Leakage to earth can also somehow pump up the bus voltage and either trip the inverter with a bus voltage fault, or damage it. So it's vital that your PV connectors are waterproof.

Ok--Now I have removed all 8 solar panels and checked all connections---Dry dry dry!! :(---TEsted the Growatt SPF5000ES solar input and got 196 volt ac !!!---Is is supposrd to do that ????  Pos and Neg =200v pos or negative and earth =196v--what can I do to rectify this ?   ---Cheers

 

Edited July 11, 20232 yr by zs1ssm

I don't know the Growatts at all, but an Axpert with high PV voltage solar charger will certainly have about half the bus voltage RMS from PV- to earth. The reason is that PV- connects to neutral out, which is at earth potential, and that is alternately connected at 50 Hz to the bus negative (so zero volts PV- to earth) or bus positive (so full negative bus voltage with respect to earth). If your multimeter registers RMS (some assume a sine wave), it will measure about half the bus voltage RMS with respect to earth. Bus voltage is often around 400 V, so half that is around 200 V.

I don't know what you should see on the PV+ input, with respect to PV- or with respect to earth.

I would expect the Growatt and most inverters to behave similarly. That's just the way these transformerless (from PV to AC out) inverters work.

When it rains, you are presumably getting leakage to earth, and there is plenty of voltage there to cause problems like tripping of residual current devices.

So , installing some diodes in the incoming pv lines will solve the problem ????

 

12 hours ago, zs1ssm said:

installing some diodes in the incoming pv lines will solve the problem ?

I'm no expert with these high PV voltage models, but yes, it seems to me that at least one in the PV- input could help. It would need to be rated for the voltage and current of the array, and be on a heatsink. And of course safe.

 

So , installing some diodes in the incoming pv lines will solve the problem ????

 

Did you solve the problem? If so, how?

A neighbour has a similar problem since installing panels on his Growatt ES5000 but it shuts the inverter down rather than tripping the EL.

I can send a sparky if you don't come right 

 

I can send a sparky if you don't come right 

Thanks for the offer but I am about 600Kms from you. 😀

 

Thanks for the offer but I am about 600Kms from you. 😀

Oh my word lol 

On 2023/09/18 at 1:41 PM, Treschen said:

I can send a sparky if you don't come right 

Hi Treschen where are you based. I have a similar problem and installer can't find the problem.  Axpert 11kVA inverter.  When it rains the inverter trips and I lose all power

Having the same issue with the growatt spf5000. When it rains at night the inverter trips on high bus voltage.

Also getting ac voltage feedback on the pv cables.

Any solutions as of yet.

Growatt support is really bad.

Good evening I have the same problem when it rains power trips. I see you mention  diode  what size diode and is it just o. The +and - that comes from the panels